Monday morning - back to Antigua

Father and daughter in Antigua. My favorite picture so far.

Sitting in the expat cafe across from Parc Central in Antigua this morning, having a cafe grande and yogurt and granola, finally slowing down enough to enjoy a vacation.  The trip to Lake Atilan and Chichi was overwhelming but glad I did it; I saw the real Guatemala they talk about, coming back to Antigua was like a reprieve from the noise, crowds, throngs of people begging or selling, and general chaos.  We left Antigua at 5:30 am on Saturday morning and arrived in Panachel - city on the lake about 9:00 am - 1.5 hours late.   I was dropped at a lovely hotel, which was luxury after the host family lodgings and I was able to  speak French to the receptionist who was fluent, I now feel like my French is excellent after sturggling with my limited Spanish.  I was picked up almost immediately by my guide Alexandro who gathered up other tourists as he walked us to the lake.  We travelled across the lake and headed for San Juan, the first of three Mayan villages on the tour.    Along the way Alexandro pointed out several secluded Mayan villages, accessible only by boat, some as small as 3,000 people, most with hotels or properties, we first world people have bought or rent to get away from it all.   We walked up the hill through the first village and visited a women's weaving guild, where we were shown the process used to complete the traditional weavings.  When I saw how time consuming it was, I was embaressed at how little I have paid for some purchaces and though I had already bought so much, I bought more from her because I cannot imagine how they can make a living from such a remote location.

I hadn't been feeling very well in the morning and as the day progressed it got worse, severe rumbly tummy and nausea that culminated in me vomiting in the street after a tuk tuk ride to another village (San Pedro) and visiting an extremely humble abode of a local that was a family friend of our guide.  This was a true example of likely the way most of the poor mayans live, a shack with a dirt floor, mother is one section making tortillas for lunch on a open fire and father in the living room, bedroom, surrounded by his carvings which he proceeded to tell us about, along with a hard sell to buy.  I was feeling so sick by then I was unable to respond and had to use their "banyo" urgently at one point, a hovel with newspaper for toilet paper, 2nd worst bathroom to one I used in Morocco, but thank god it was there.  One of the women on our tour was a doctor from Holland and she was able to give me three different drugs to stop the activity.  I had to interrupt the tour and head back to Panachel on a ferry and go back to my hotel; a place I will never forget for the comfort it provided that day, including a private bathroom.



 

Hotel Utz Jay, Panachel

 I had considered staying another day in Panachel if I still felt sick but decided to carry on with the tour as things had settled down.  The ride to Chichi was about 2.5 hours.  Guatemala is a series of mountains and valleys with small villages nestled in amongst the volcanic mountains.    It is a dangerous country to travel in, not just because of the proverty and subsequent crime but because it has very high earthquake, volcanic and slide activity; anyone one of the three happen fairly regularly.  The area I was travelling in had several land slides in October due to very high rains,  this had hit the American and Canadian news - several people were killed.  Along the way there were several areas still being cleared and it looked like the work was all being done manually.   We arrived in Chichi safely and were given about 3 hours to visit the market and walk the town; I remembered being in the madenas in Morocco and the fear of being swallowed up by the crowds; lost and never finding my way out.  I braved it anyway and ended buying more "stuff" it was so cheap and the people eager to sell, as again the rains had caused a slump in tourism - of course I was happy to oblige.

 

The three pictures above are, the Chichi market, Santo Tomas Chruch and the hotel where I had lunch.  It would be like having the Vancouver Hotel on the corner of Main and Hastings, interesting juxstaposition and reminded me of the phrase

"holidaying in other people's misery".    Started to bother me a bit so I got my visa off the bus and bought more stuff.  I have presents for everyone or I could open a small store.